RCA Camden

RCA Camden was a budget record label of recordings, first introduced by RCA Victor in the mid 1950s.

History

Camden, New Jersey was the historic home to the Victor Talking Machine Company, later RCA Records. [http://www.thevictorlofts.com/history.html Building History]

The label specialized in reissuing historic classical and popular recordings from the RCA catalog. The albums originally sold for $1.98 retail and were strictly monaural recordings, often drawn from 78-rpm discs.

RCA Camden originally issued some classical recordings using the real names of the orchestras. Then, to avoid competing with modern recordings by the same orchestras, they adopted a series of pseudonyms. Thus, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra became known either as the Savoy Symphony Orchestra or the Schuyler Symphony Orchestra, the RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra (a New York "pickup" orchestra, drawn from players in the NBC Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra) became the Golden Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra became the Centennial Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra became the Stratford Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra became the Cromwell Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra became the World Wide Symphony Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra became the Warwick Symphony Orchestra. [Jack Gottlieb, www.leonardbernstein.com] The New York City Symphony Orchestra, created by Leopold Stokowski in the 1940s, recorded for RCA Victor and some of its recordings were issued on Camden under the name "Sutton Symphony Orchestra," not to be confused with a British orchestra with the same name.

Earliest Releases

Some of the earliest RCA Camden releases included: [Robert Plante, www.gravediggervideo.com/rcacamden.html]

*CAL-100...Warwick Symphony Orchestra: Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Suite/Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals LP
*CAL-101...Boston Symphony Orchestra: Peter and the Wolf, Op. 67; Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks LP
*CAL-104...The Philadelphia Orchestra: Symphony No. 5, in E Minor, Op. 95
*CAL-116...Boston Pops Orchestra: William Tell Overture, 1812 Overture
*CAL-124...Richard Crooks: The Songs of Stephen Foster
*CAL-125...The Goldman Band: America Marches
*CAL-127...Boston Pops Orchestra: Johann Strauss Favorites
*CAL-189...Cromwell Symphony Orchestra/Sutton Symphony Orchestra: Stravinsky--The Song of the Nightingale (Symphonic Poem)/Richard Strauss--Death and Transfiguration
*CAL-209...The Trapp Family Singers: Present Christmas and Folk Songs
*CAL-229...Ray Kinney and His Coral Islanders: Hawaiian Favorites
*CAL-255...Guy Lombardo: Plays
*CAL-277...Wayne King and His Orchestra: Let's Dance
*CAL-294...The Biggest Hits of 1955
*CAL-300...Jesse Crawford: Pipe Organ Magic LP
*CAL-304...Boston Pops Orchestra: Rhapsody in Blue/Concerto in F
*CAL-309...Toscanini and the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra: The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Semiramide Overture
*CAL-315...Freddy Martin and His Orchestra: Make Believe (Music of Jerome Kern)
*CAL-318...The Biggest Hits of '56, Vol. 1
*CAL-321...Dinah Shore, Lena Horne: Lower Basin Street
*CAL-323...Xavier Cugat and His Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra: That Latin Beat!
*CAL-326...Toscanini and the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra: Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Barber of Seville Overture, "Haffner" Symphony, Scherzo from "Midsummer Night's Dream"
*CAL-328...Great Jazz Pianists
*CAL-329...Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra: Dance With Me!
*CAL-331...The Biggest Hits of ’56, Vol. 2
*CAL-352...Toscanini and the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra: Symphony No. 7, in A, Op.92

Later Releases

In the 1950s, RCA Camden began dabbling in rock and roll releases, issuing, for example, an EP of such songs by "The Honey Dreamers". About 1958, Camden began releasing stereo albums and subsequently issued popular recordings by the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, The Living Strings and Living Voices.

From 1968 to 1975, RCA Camden issued a series of compilation albums featuring recordings by Elvis Presley, who recorded for the main RCA Victor label. This output primarily consisted of repackagings of Presley's 1960s-era movie soundtrack recordings, however several albums, such as "Elvis Sings Flaming Star" also featured previously unreleased material, while two later compilations, "Burning Love and Hits from His Movies, Volume 2" and "Separate Ways" actually featured then-current chart hits for Presley that were issued to album on RCA Camden instead of the expected RCA Victor. In 1975, RCA sold Presley reissue rights to Pickwick Records, which subsequently reissued most of the RCA Camden catalog under its branding starting in late 1975.

The label continued onto compact discs in the 1980s and the 1990s, focusing more on popular and country music. With the 2004 merger of BMG (RCA Victor's parent company) and Sony (Columbia Records' parent company), the Camden label, as well as the RCA Victrola and Gold Seal labels, were abandoned.

ee also

* [http://forbiddeneye.com/labels/rcacamden.html RCA Camden Discography]
* [http://yktc.us/MusicRack/33/Label%20List/Camden/list%20Camden.html Music Rack-Camden Discography]
* List of record labels

Footnotes